Tag Archives: Commercial shrimping
Opinion: Policymakers in search of sound science need to listen to fishery by Jerry Leeman
Fishermen are gravely concerned that regulators are stealing our futures with baseless cuts to landing quotas. Rep. Jared Golden is taking positive steps to fix this problem. It often happens that government regulators, who lack deep knowledge of what it takes to catch fish in the Gulf of Maine, reach conclusions about the state of our fish stocks that do not match what fishermen are seeing and what we know from being on the water every day. The obvious objection whenever we raise this concern is that “anecdote is not the plural of data.” The doubters ask: Why would an individual fisherman know more than a government agency with a dataset? That’s a fair question. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:02
Shrimp season reopens in the Gulf of Mexico, Aransas Pass fleet heads that way
Shrimp season is back in full swing at Conn Brown Harbor now that state and federal waters have reopened to commercial shrimping. It’s a busy time for shrimpers after being closed for over two months. “Boats are coming out of Palacios, Aransas Pass, Brownsville, Galveston. All the different ports,” Aransas Pass local Cecil Robles said. An armada of shrimp boats is off to the Gulf of Mexico, hoping to fill their nets with tiny treasures. Robles works at Conn Brown Harbor, where he fuels shrimp boats for Erickson and Jensen seafood packers. “The next few days, we’ll start to hear from them about what they’re catching and how abundant the fish are,” Robles said. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:59
Potter’s Seafood carries on the “historic heritage” of Southport
The small yellow building tucked in the corner of Southport’s Yacht Basin represents what’s left of the once prominent and bustling seafood industry in the town. The building is home to Potter’s Seafood, an institution in Southport that’s been selling local seafood since 1899. Royce Potter is carrying on the family tradition as the fifth generation of Potters to catch and sell seafood along the waterfront of Southport. The town, located at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, once revolved around the fishing industry but now relies on tourism and Potter’s is the last of its kind. Video, photos, >click to read< 10:22
There’s something in the water: Shrimp!
Back in the 1990s, watermen started noticing shrimp were getting caught in their gill nets in waters just off Virginia Beach. Virginia Marine Resources Commission in 2018 issued free shrimp permits to a couple of watermen in Virginia Beach who would haul in 300 pounds of shrimp on a good day. Today, 12 watermen, with permits, work the waters for shrimp and on a good day, the haul is more than a thousand pounds. 100 people applied for 2020 permits but only 12 permits were issued to watermen in Virginia Beach and the Eastern Shore in a lottery system. Shrimping is also a game of chance. “One day I think I caught 16 shrimp, two days later [I caught] 1700 pounds,” >video, click to read< 07:34
South Carolina shrimping season may open partially Wednesday
Commercial shrimping in waters off the South Carolina coast could resume on a limited scale as early as this week, but don’t expect an abundance of the coveted white “roe” shrimp. Mel Bell, marine fisheries director for the S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources, says the fisheries division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) likely will open federal waters to commercial shrimp trawling this week, possibly as early as Wednesday. Bell says DNR asked NOAA last week to reopen federal waters, which start about three miles offshore,,, >click to read<10:44
